Blood Trials
by Truly Hopeless
Summary: On her thirteenth birthday, the cenobites offer Kari a chance to be reunited with her family. The catch is that she must complete a series of tests as her father watches her every move. Rated M for content in later chapters. Eventual Chatterer/OC and some Pinsty. (I swear, if I have to edit this again, I may just give up.)
1. Optimism is an Illusion

Kari breathed heavily as she crawled into a hole in the wall. She never thought she would have to do this, but the day's events gave her no choice.

Men were following her, bad men. They had cornered her and her mother and they had demanded her mother to hand over a box or else they would hurt both of them. She had pulled a gun from her purse and fired at two of the men. She then told Kari to run and hide until help arrived.

Now she sat there, trying to stay quiet, trying to stop herself from crying.

She didn't know where her mother was or if she was all right. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be home, safe and happy with the people she loved. She was supposed to meet her father today, for the first time in her life. But instead, she was scared and alone, and on her birthday, too.

When she heard two pairs of footsteps, she held her breath and pushed herself further back into the hole. Her mother told her that if she ever had to wait for one of her friends that she hadn't met yet, she had to listen for the safe word that they had agreed on. The only people who would know the safe word would be Aunts Tiffany and Joey, Kari's father, and his friends. She listened now, for someone to say the word that meant they were on her side.

But instead, she heard, "Come on out, sweetie. We won't hurt you. Much."

And it went on, and Kari wanted to cry when she saw a pair of legs approach the hole, but she stopped herself; she was safe as long as they didn't know where she was.

After a few minutes, the legs left the entrance and after another minute, she heard the footsteps walk away.

Once she was sure that they had gone, she started to leave the hole, intending to find another, less cramped hiding place to wait. She had just poked her head out when, without a warning, someone grabbed her by the hair and pulled her forcefully out and away from the hole. She cried out once before the third man that she failed to hear forced two of his thick fingers into her mouth. Then he picked her up and began running.

As he ran, Kari could hear the voices of the other two shouting after him.

"Bring her back, Sean! We need her to get the box from Cotton. You can play with her afterwards, but not right now." But Sean didn't stop. Kari struggled to get away from him, tried to scream through his hand, and even went so far as to bite him, but he was too strong, her screams fell on deaf ears, and the bite didn't seem to cause him any pain.

He slowed to a walk when something that looked very much like an archway came into view. The man removed his hand from her mouth and his face conveyed no emotion as he gently touched her head; it did nothing to reassure Kari of her fate. She tried to cry out one last time, but it only came out as a whimper. She buried her head into his shoulder, mentally hoping that this was only a nightmare that she would wake from soon.

Just as the man was about to cross the threshold, a voice called out, "Stop right there, you fucking impostor!"

* * *

A confused Kari found herself tangled in bed sheets, looking up at the ceiling instead of over "Sean's" shoulder to see who had spoken. Then she realized it had only been her memory haunting her again. Shakily, she climbed out of bed and looked into the mirror to see her reflection.

Curly, untamed brown hair framed her pale face and tired blue eyes. Her nightclothes were in disarray, with a torn shirt that she kept telling herself she had to sew up, but always forgot about the moment she got dressed and grey sweat pants that still had a red stain from spilling tomato sauce on herself one month before.

She sighed. "Happy birthday, Kari," she said grimly, "you look like hell chewed you up and spat you out." She went into the adjoining bathroom that she and Joey shared and locked the door leading to her room before undressing and stepping into the shower.

Today was her thirteenth birthday, but she felt rather indifferent toward it. She wasn't going to be allowed to drive, vote, or be taken to a bar or casino, and since it had been three years since her mother disappeared, Kari had long since given up hope that she would come back. Therefore, Kari had nothing to look forward to: it was just another birthday, another year in another life. At least she didn't have to go to school today.

After five minutes of standing in the hot shower, there was a knock on the locked door.

"When you're done getting ready, please come down stairs. We're going out today."

"All right, Joey," she called back. Ever since her mother disappeared, Kari stayed with her two aunts, Joey Summerskill and Tiffany Hall. She had no where else to go since the world would think she was mad like her mother appeared to be at times and her father never came.

Her _father_...

The very thought of the man she had never met in person hurt her even now. At this point, she was convinced that her father was either dead, or didn't care about her. Even though a birthday present was sent every year along with a letter in his handwriting telling her otherwise, she believed that if he actually cared, he would come to see her himself and tell her that.

More than once, she considered sending a letter of her own telling him as much, and she had even written several of them and had been ready to put them in envelopes, but she always tore them up and threw them in a fire because on top of not meaning the nasty things she said about him and not even knowing where to send them to, she didn't want to risk leading those... _people_ back to her.

No, don't think about it right now, she told herself as she finished her shower. She put her sweat pants in the laundry basket so that she could try again-for what must have been the thousandth time-to get rid of the stain on the next laundry day and draped the shirt over the vanity in her room, making sure that the tear was visible so that she might finally mend it.

She dressed in a plain blue t-shirt and jeans with fake tears near the knees, tried and failed to tame her hair before she put a black headband on to at least stop her hair from falling into her face, and shoved her feet into her tennis shoes. She then went to the vanity and took bluebird earrings that didn't dangle and put them in her ears.

"It's your birthday; you need to dress up a little bit," she told her reflection, smiling a little. "Try to have a little fun today."

For a moment, she could have sworn she saw a face that wasn't hers, a man's bluish-white face with pins driven into it and dark eyes staring right at her. But then she blinked and the image faded away as well as the smile she had forced on her face.

Shaking her head, she turned away from the mirror and went to the place where her three-legged grey cat, Inese, was still asleep. Kari gently pet her head before grabbing her purse and going downstairs.

She missed the last two steps on her way down and she held out her hands to stop herself from falling on her face, but she found it wasn't necessary when someone caught her.

"Careful now, missy. I don't want to have to take the birthday girl to the hospital."

Kari smiled as she looked into Joey's face. "I'll try not to, Joey." After straightening herself, she stood on her toes and kissed her on the cheek.

"Happy birthday, Kari!" Tiffany beamed at her as she ran over to hug her, too. They were her mother's best friends and the only people she trusted in this world. She didn't know how she would be able to live without them.

As they all left the house for a special birthday outing, Kari thought that maybe this year everything would start to get better for her from this point onward. If anything, things can't get any worse. She just had to get by for now.

* * *

Deep in the Labyrinth of Leviathan, the man Kari had dismissed as a trick of the light when she was looking in the mirror watched as she left the house with her protectors. He mused for a moment how very much like her mother she was, having had plenty of opportunities to observe her. Both were quick to judge others based on first impressions and were resistant to change their views. Even now, this girl believed that _he_ was a monster just as Kirsty did. All of this would change tonight.

There was a knock on his chamber door.

"Come in," he called, his eyes not leaving the girl.

"The Guardians are ready to leave at your command, Master."

"Thank you for telling me, Nikoletta." He turned to look at the Deep Throat now. "Are all the preparations for tonight ready for her arrival?"

"Everyone is ready except for Dreamer. She claimed that she needs to know more about this child before she can set up."

"Very well. Tell the Guardians to leave now and let me know when _she_ has opened the box." Nikoletta left the room to do as she had been told.

Xipe Totec watched as Kari Cotton entered a café with Joey and Tiffany close to her. "Everything will change tonight, child. Don't let your fear or your anger stop you." Then he left to work on his part for the evenings events.

* * *

Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I'm Hopeless and this is my first Hellraiser story. This took about six months to get this right, since I had trouble not making the first chapter 10,000 words long. I'll get the second chapter out once I've had it completed; I am not making the same mistake I did with previous stories and wing it, since all I end up with is a hot mess of wasted ideas and pop cultural references. I hope you will enjoy this story, as predictable as it may be (there is nothing new under the sun). Please feel free to give me feedback on this story at any time. Like it? Good! Noticed some grammatical mistakes that bug you? Tell me so that I can fix it! Someone out of character? Tell me how they usually are! Even if you just tell me the story sucks (though I will resent that), some feedback would be nice. In case I forget to put this in other chapters, I do not own Kirsty, the cenobites, Joey, or Tiffany. They belong to either Clive Barker. I only own Kari and Justine and any friends that do not belong to Mr. Barker. Take care everyone.

Second Author's Note: My God, I keep changing things. /= I swear, this is the last time. Does anyone know where to find a good beta reader? I keep making the same mistakes again and again and I'm getting sick of it.


	2. The Offer

The morning passed by quickly without any problems. Kari, Joey, and Tiffany went to a café where they had breakfast. They then decided to go to a nearby art festival. The whole place seemed to come alive with the vibrant colors of paintings and the sparkling of trinkets. All around, people went from stand to stand to see all that was for sale and the gentle tinkling of wind chimes filled the air.

Kari immediately fell in love with the festival and soon left her friends to look at all it had to offer. She became so enchanted by the art around her that she failed to notice where she was going until she accidentally knocked someone to the ground.

"Oh, crap! Sorry!" Kari hastily helped the person to her feet. It was a girl around her age, give or take a few months, with long black hair tied into a braid, skin the color of fresh coffee, and ocean green eyes. She wore a tye-dye shirt of turquoise, indigo, and red-violet beneath a black leather vest as well as black jeans and fingerless gloves.

She didn't seem upset about being knocked to the ground. On the contrary, she simply shook her head, and with a little smile said, "Don't worry, it happens every year. People like the artwork so much that the rest of the world just seems to disappear. My name is Laveda, by the way. What's yours?"

"I'm Kari." They shook hands, and Kari couldn't help but notice how cold Laveda's hands were, despite the fact that it was a fairly warm spring day. Even the part of her hand that was covered by the glove seemed cold. "So, you've been to one of these things before?"

"Oh, yeah, my brother and I have come here every year, ever since I was eight. He runs an art studio, Dreams Illustrated, and this is the first year he's decided to sell some of his paintings here to get some publicity. I even got to help him with some of them while painting my own things, too." She sounded very proud of herself and Kari couldn't blame her; getting noticed here surely would help her brother's career and maybe earn her a little fame.

"That's fantastic," she told Laveda, who's smile widened.

"Would you like to see some of them since this seems to be your first time here?"

"Sure."

Laveda led Kari to a stand in the back that had a black sheet painted with stars and moons of almost every bright color imaginable and a sign above read, "Dreams Illustrated: Let Us Bring Your Fantasies to Life." On the stand itself were paintings that combined the horrifying and the beautiful together perfectly, whether it be a surreal take on a common object or inspired by something that already existed. Laveda excused herself for the moment, claiming that she saw a few things she wanted to buy, and Kari continued to look at the artwork.

Among the paintings was a rose that appeared to bleed from the petals, an anime inspired battle between several young girls and a giant monster, a witch with mismatched eyes sitting beside a bloodied spinning wheel and gently stroking an unconscious girl's golden curls, and a man with dark eyes offering a bright red pomegranate to a woman who was beautiful, but severely bruised and trapped inside of a cage.

This depiction of Hades and Persephone caught Kari's attention the most because her opinion on it, and the myth that inspired it, changed the more she looked at it.

Her first thought was that Hades was a horrible god for kidnapping the spring goddess only to abuse her and keep her trapped like a bird in a too small cage. She couldn't have inflicted those bruises herself, and she seemed to try shrink away from him as much as the limited space allowed.

Then she looked at their eyes. Hades' eyes were filled with concern and regret while Persephone's held longing and understanding. So he was sorry he hurt her and offered the fruit to make amends? And Persephone wanted to take it and forgive him even though she knew she'd be trapped with him for half a year for the remainder of her life?

Then Kari looked at the background again, especially at the cage, and the truth of the painting became clear. Hades and Persephone were not in the Underworld, as she originally thought, but the palace on Mount Olympus. The pillars on either side of the painting were of white marble, the cage was made of bright gold, and the barred window behind Persephone's head that Kari had just noticed gave a perfect view of the evening sky.

Persephone had willingly gone with Hades before, not realizing the consequences of accepting the god of the Underworld's marriage proposal. She was severely punished when she returned home (though who had actually inflicted the bruises was not clear). The king of the dead, seeing her misery, felt sorry for her and snuck into Olympus to give her the pomegranate that would allow them to stay together and allow him to protect her.

"Like what you see?" Kari turned to see a boy in his late teens looking at the same painting. He shared the same skin and eye color as Laveda and wore similar attire, except he had a black t-shirt with a fully colored man with pale skin, dark hair, and vampire fangs wearing a red coat and wielding guns.

"Yes. It's very interesting."

He smiled. "My sister will be happy to hear that; this is one of the first paintings she has done without my help and she felt a little anxious about what people would think." He held out his hand and Kari shook it. "Aluf's the name, bringing dreams to life is my game. You must be Kari. Laveda told me she met you. So, are you here by yourself or with friends?"

"My aunts are here, but I don't know where they are. I should probably go look for them. I'll be right back."

As she was about to leave, however, Kari's eyes caught sight of something she hadn't noticed before, something vaguely familiar.

Right next to the Hades and Persephone painting sat a wooden puzzle box with intricate brass designs that shined like gold. She didn't know why, but the box seemed to call to her, almost as if it belonged to her.

"Oh, I forgot to put that thing away." Aluf went over to the box and picked it up. "We found this at an antique shop about two months ago. The Lament Configuration, according to the man who sold it to us."

Laveda came back at that moment with several paintings inside of a fabric shopping bag with a monarch butterfly sewn on it. Seeing the box, she put the bag down and looked thoughtfully at the puzzle. "We heard that when someone opens the box of their own free will, creatures called cenobites will either reward or punish the ones who summoned them, depending on what they did. We haven't been able to find out if it's true yet. The box doesn't change at all whenever we try to solve it."

An idea seemed to suddenly strike her. "Hey, maybe you could help us figure it out. We're going to try again tonight, since we've done more research since our last attempt, but maybe another set of hands will make all the difference. What do you say?"

Kari was torn between the two options. On one hand, the idea of creatures from another world fascinated her and she really wanted to help her new friends. On the other hand, however, opening the box could be a mistake, especially if the cenobites found something wrong with her and decided to "punish" her.

Aluf, somehow seeing her inner conflict, decided to ease her fears. "If the cenobites show up, you don't have to worry about them hurting you. You can't have done anything too terrible for them to consider you a sinner, since you're just a kid, and the research we've done reveals a way so the cenobites can't take you unless you tell them you want them to." Kari still had some doubts, so he added, "If they find you a good person, they could help you find something you lost."

Her heart skipped a beat. "What sort of things?"

"A family heirloom, a pet, perhaps even a person, assuming they're still alive."

Now Kari felt tempted. If she could find her mother, find out if she was all right, and maybe even bring her home, everything would go back to normal. She could even find out what happened to her father.

She looked at the box again. What harm would opening it do? Aluf told her that the cenobites wouldn't be able to take her away unless she asked them to, so the very worst that could happen would be the box not opening at all. She had nothing to lose.

"There you are!" They turned to see Joey running up to them with Tiffany close behind. "You really shouldn't run off like that. You could get lost."

"Good afternoon, miss," Aluf said politely. "Would I be right if I guessed that you two are Kari's guardians?"

"Yes," Joey confirmed. Her eyes found the box in his hand and Kari saw them narrow in suspicion. "My name is Joey and this is Tiffany. And you are...?"

"I'm Aluf Amaniah and this is my sister Laveda." After they exchanged handshakes, Aluf continued, "We were just telling Kari about some puzzle we found and how we're going to try and open it tonight. If both of you would give us your permission-and if Kari wants to-" to which Kari nodded, "-we would like her to come to our home and help us solve it, too. You can come as well, if you have any concerns. We can all have dinner and you can speak with our... _land lord _when he arrives."

A look of understanding appeared in Tiffany's eyes and Joey seemed to understand something, too.

"One moment, please." Tiffany and Joey went away about ten yards to talk and Kari and her new friends stood there, awaiting their verdict.

* * *

"I don't like this," Joey told Tiffany, trying to remain calm even as she felt anger rise within her.

"I know, but what choice do we have? He'll just show up anyway, and I have a feeling he'll be furious if we don't come as soon as possible."

"I just don't want to deal with this asshole right now, especially not after what he did three years ago."

Tiffany patted her shoulder. "Kirsty trusted him, and likely still does. We need to trust that he'll explain everything tonight. Besides, Kari needs to know and stopping her from finding out won't help."

Joey sighed. "Okay, but if he does anything to hurt her again, I'll have to kick his ass." They went back to the group.

"We would be delighted to let Kari help you," Tiffany told them. "What time should we come?"

"We're ordering Chinese take out at around five thirty so six should be the best time to show up. Our studio is on 1987 Hanging Willow Lane, the house with a red tree painted on the door; you can't miss it."

"Thank you. Well, we have other things to do in the meantime. If you saw something you wanted, Kari, you better buy it now."

Kari picked up the picture of Hades and Persephone. Joey didn't see how she could like things like this, but to each his own; at least it wasn't as grotesque as what J.P. had in his collection.

"How much is this?" the girl asked Laveda, opening her purse.

"Aluf usually charges ten dollars for a painting this size, to pay for materials and the rent for the studio, but since this is _my_ painting and I like you, I'll only charge half as much."

Kari handed over a five dollar bill and Laveda placed the painting in a cloth bag similar to the one she had, except this one had a heart pierced with an arrow, before giving it to her. "With each first purchase, we give out these bags a friend and I made for fun. They're very good for holding your supplies at school and they don't easily break."

"Thanks. See you tonight." She, Tiffany, and Joey left. Joey turned around and saw the two Guardians look around to make sure no one was passing by before going to the back of the stand with the box. She could only hope that whatever their leader was planning wouldn't cause any more harm than had already been done.

* * *

Author's Note: Exposition, exposition, rush it out ASAP. I promise that after the next chapter, the plot will actually begin. All recognizable characters belong to Clive Barker and others (Dimension Studios can crawl in a hole and die for all I care), all OCs belong to me. Also, for anyone wondering why I didn't just have one of the existing Guardians tell Kari about the box, I like to think that in order to bring in more souls/potential cenobites/other purpose, Guardians appear in any place that brings people pleasure (of the mind, body, soul, whatever) and when they offer the box, they convince their victims that it will make them appreciate whatever gives them pleasure more. Also, I don't think Kari would trust the homeless man from the first film if he came to her, especially after almost getting kidnapped and used as bargaining chip to get the box. Goodbye, I'll try to get back to this as soon as possible (have to make sure I graduate).


	3. The Bargain

Kari put the new painting on the wall next to her bed and after straightening it, she remembered that Aluf and Laveda had told her to bring a few things.

"_In order for you to open the box without the cenobites taking you on sight_," Aluf told her while they waited for Joey and Tiffany to make their decision, "_a few things need to come from you_. _If you can bring some rose petals, some pins and needles, and a knife, we'll be able to provide the rest of the things needed_."

She took the roses Joey and Tiffany bought her that morning and carefully removed the petals so that they wouldn't tear, then put them in a small plastic sandwich bag and put that in the bag Laveda gave her. Next she went to her sewing kit, took the tomato-shaped pincushion that held most of her needles and pins, and put that in her bag, too.

That only left the knife, but how could she take one from the kitchen without getting odd looks from her aunts? Joey seemed reluctant to let her go to their house at all; if she knew that they told her to bring a knife for some sort of ritual, she would convince Tiffany that this was a bad idea and that they should not go, ending any chance of finding out where her parents were.

Inese got out of her basket, meowed, and rubbed against Kari's leg. "Did you sleep well, girl?" she asked as she knelt down, running her hand down the cat's back, to which she purred softly. She then carefully leapt onto the dresser beside the vanity, which drew Kari's attention to several things she had forgotten.

On the dresser, half-hidden by old homework assignments and knick-knacks, lay a compass, a whistle, and a knife with a brass handle, all steadily gathering dust, all gifts from her father.

The compass and whistle had been sent on her eleventh and twelfth birthdays, along with some clothes and a note telling her to use these if she ever found herself lost or in danger. The knife, meanwhile, found its way into her possession three years ago. As she sat on a hospital bed, one of the..._strangers _handed the knife to her and told her that her father wanted her to have a way to protect herself should she ever find herself in immediate danger again.

Whether it was because she had no use of them when they were given or because she resented her father's absence, she had put them on the dresser and ignored them. Yet here they were again, insisting that they be noticed and picked up. The knife seemed like the answer to her problem since she could just put it in the bag and Joey would never know, but what use would a compass and a whistle be to her?

**_You can never know for sure,_** a voice in her mind told her, one that sounded eerily similar to the stranger's voice. _**What if the car breaks down again and more thugs try to corner you****?**_ _**And what if they caught you, took you to an isolated area like a forest, and you got lost with no sense of direction if you somehow managed to escape**_**_? Your new friends' home is not far from where it happened last time, you know. You want to be able to get help and find your way out of the situation, right?_**

At once, she placed all three items in the bag.

"Better safe than sorry," she told herself.

She checked the time. They'd leave for the house in thirty minutes. She decided to rest her eyes for a little bit, since she woke up earlier than she normally would on a Saturday. She lay on the bed and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

"Stop right there, you fucking imposter!" She found herself looking over "Sean's" shoulder again. She saw the two men from before, along with a few others, looking confused and horrified at what they saw coming down another street. She turned her head to see for herself, and had to catch her breath.

Stepping out of the shadows was a five and a half foot mass of blood and muscles. It's eyes glared at the man holding Kari.

"Sean? What's going on?" one of the others asked fearfully.

"I was trying to come up with a plan to trap the girl when _that __thing_ knocked me to the ground and stole my skin. Now it's trying to take her away."

Kari looked up at her current captor as he put her on the ground, still blocking her from view in case the other men tried to grab her. She could now see that the skin didn't seem to fit him, his eyes could not be seen in the sockets, and in some places, she saw traces of blood that he hadn't bothered to wipe away in his rush to capture her. While she looked, she could hear angry growls and clicks that she realized came from him.

"_Don't look_," she heard a soft voice, a male voice, hiss at her. The man moved both hands to the top of his head and, to her horror, began to pull the skin away, the ill-fitting clothes soon following.

Beneath Sean's skin was a blood-stained, leather-bound creature with flesh stretched over his eyes and exposed teeth that clicked angrily. He turned away from Kari and took a curved knife from its belt.

"_Don't look_," the voice repeated. She turned around and closed her eyes. Then she heard the loud screams of the men and the squelching and splattering of _things_ falling to the ground.

Warm, wet liquid flew at her and hit the back of her head. She touched it with her hand and opened her eyes. She was horrified to see that it was blood and it got worse when she went against the creature's wishes and looked around. Blood covered most of the street and she could see body parts and organs strewn all over the ground. If she had anything in her stomach, it would have ended up on the ground due to the terror and disgust the girl felt.

The chattering creature was chasing one of the men from earlier with the blood stained knife in his hand. Getting tired of chasing him, he stopped and raised his free hand. At once, hooked chains sprung from the wall closest to the man and dug into his skin, trapping him there. The creature was about to slit his throat, but a deep male voice that seemed to come from behind Kari called, "Enough," and he obeyed it.

Kari turned around and felt sure her heart stopped beating for a moment as two men and three women stepped out of the doorway she forgot was there. They were all bald, all had black leather that appeared to be sewn into their skin, all smelt faintly of vanilla which failed to completely hide the stench of blood, and all seemed to have scars and other body mutilations. The one that stood out the most in Kari's mind was a man with pale skin, dark eyes, and a grid pattern carved into his face and head that had a silver pin driven into each intersection. He seemed to be the leader of the group as the others looked to him for instructions.

He looked down at her and she swore saw something briefly flash in his dark eyes-pity, regret, or something else all together?-before he turned away and moved toward the chattering creature, who seemed to click out some sort of message that he understood and the frown on his face deepened. He turned his attention to the still bound and bleeding man and when he spoke, the same voice that gave the order not to kill escaped his lips. Definitely the leader.

"So you tried to forcefully take the box by threatening to kill one of our Guardians and her only child." It wasn't a question, and the fact that he sounded so calm when anger was evident on his face made the hairs on the back of Kari's neck stand up. "Not only that, but my page has told me that you promised one of your men-" he indicated Sean's skinless corpse "-that he could rape and kill both of them once you got what you wanted. These planned crimes will earn all of you an eternity of suffering, but your punishment will be postponed for the moment as I need you to give one of your leaders a message."

With that, the leader of these creatures seized the man by the throat, causing him to scream in agony. When he pulled his hand away, Kari could see strange markings burned into the man's neck.

Somewhere in the distance, a police siren sounded off. "I suggest you find her now," he said coldly, and with that the chains disappeared. The man took this demon's advice and ran as fast as he could.

Without a warning, Kari felt herself being picked up again, and the clicking told her it was the same captor as before. She cried out again and struggled to get away, causing the leader to turn around.

"Release her, Mictanleculti."

The creature holding her started a little at the use of that name and the sharp tone he used, then clicked out another message and she could faintly hear the same voice from before say, "_But master, Leviathan ordered me to take her._ _He'll be furious if I fail to bring her to him._ _Besides, considering who she is, I __thought you would want her much more than he does._"

The leader shook his head. "I'll talk to him later and if he is displeased with this, I'll take any and all punishments given out. The girl cannot come with us; it's not her time."

Mictanleculti sighed and put Kari down. She looked at all the other people-the demons-around her, all seeming to stare into her soul, judging her. This, their appearance, and the things they likely planned to do with people like the man the leader just branded, made her feel unsafe and she started to run.

She slipped on some of the blood on the ground and fell. A combination of the bloodied concrete scraping her knees and the eyes that continued to watch her caused tears to well up in her eyes. She needed her mother, she needed to know that everything would be okay, but she didn't know where she was and she was surrounded by strangers. She heard footsteps behind her and a cool hand touched her shoulder.

From behind her, she heard the leader quietly speak two words: "_Pure heart_."

* * *

"Kari? Kari!" She opened her eyes to find Joey shaking her awake, a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay? I heard you screaming."

"I just had a bad dream. I'm sorry I scared you." She raised a hand to her eyes and felt wetness at the corners of them. She knew she really should talk to someone about these memories and how they affected her, but she knew she wouldn't find anyone who would listen without keeping her in a mental ward.

Joey hugged Kari, rubbing her back a little. "Do you still want to go to their house? If you're not feeling good, I'm sure they'll understand if you don't show up."

Kari shook her head. "I promised I'd come and I make sure I keep my promises. I want to figure out this puzzle as much as they do and no nightmare is going to hold me back."

Joey smiled, a little sadly it seemed. "Spoken like your mother's daughter." She kissed her on the forehead and helped her up. "Come on, it's time to go. Oh, and look out for broken glass. I think you knocked your lamp over in your sleep."

Kari looked down and sure enough she could see the jade colored lamp that usually sat on her bedside table in pieces on the floor. She was a little confused. Usually during her night terrors, all of her body parts stayed on her bed. She may twist the covers around a bit, but she never hit any of the furniture close to the bed.

_No matter_, she told herself. _Just make sure you clean it up before you go to sleep tonight_.

* * *

After dinner, Aluf and Laveda led Kari up the stairs while Joey and Tiffany sat in the living room, Tiffany looking at the various sculptures and paintings the Amaniahs kept there while Joey paced the floor, both waiting for something-or someone.

Kari found herself in an attic, where dark fabric was nailed over the windows to block out any light from outside. On the floor was a large circle drawn in chalk and candles placed around it. Near the back of the room sat some kind of alter where Kari could see a plate of small animal bones, a small bowl that had pins and needles filling it halfway, a box of bon-bons, another bowl, this one with nothing inside, and several live doves in a cage that flew against the bars, trying to escape.

"Just things that someone said would make the cenobites happy," Aluf answered her unasked question. "They like a combination of pleasant things and not-so-pleasant things. Makes sense since their home is said to be Heaven and Hell combined, or at least to those who can keep an open mind. Did you bring the things we told you to bring?"

Kari nodded and took out the sandwich bag full of rose petals, the pincushion, and the knife her father gave her.

"Good work, and that's a cool knife." He began to take the pins and needles out of the pincushion and placed them in the bowl on the alter. "I now need you to scatter the petals on the floor." She and Laveda did so, both with the eagerness of flower girls at a wedding.

"Okay. Now comes the not-so-pleasant part before we get started." He beckoned Kari to the alter and she complied. "I need you to hold your non-dominant hand out over the empty bowl and stay very still. This may hurt a bit, but it's necessary since we don't want to risk losing you to the cenobites."

He took the knife and very quickly made a cut on the palm her left hand. Kari gasped in pain, but made no attempt to pull away as Aluf let the blood from the cut drip into the bowl. Once it was full, Laveda came to her with a bandage and wrapped it tightly around the wound to stop the bleeding as Aluf cleaned the knife.

"Once again, I'm sorry I had to do that." He handed her the knife handle-first and she put it back in the bag. He then directed her to sit in the circle on the floor and when she sat down in the middle of it, he and Laveda lit all of the candles before he turned off the overhead light. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him take the Lament Configuration from a low shelf. He came over to her, handed it to her, then went to rejoin his sister.

Kari ran her fingers over the box, feeling each intricate design as she pulled and prodded it. A few clicks were heard when she touched certain areas and a song began to play, a beautiful and mysterious melody that urged her to continue and each correct touch earned a new part to the song.

After a few minutes, she gasped when part of the box moved upward. She touched it and what looked like little blue lightning bolts shocked her, causing her to drop the box as the segment went down on its own. Then another part of the box rose and twisted before coming down to form a star and one of the circles on the box opened up, emitting light.

A bell, not unlike a church bell, started to ring as the wall in front of Kari opened. She looked at this new doorway and felt her heart stop for the second time in her life as, much to her dismay, she saw some the same _strangers_ from three years ago make their way down the corridor toward her. Looking at the box again, she realized that the designs on the box looked similar to the pattern burned into one of the thugs' neck. _This was the box they wanted_?

She turned to Aluf and Laveda for some explanation and was somewhat horrified when she saw that another demon-no, cenobite-stood where Laveda did moments ago. She wore the same leather jeans she did as a human along with what looked like a smock that was spattered with what someone may mistake as red paint but was actually blood. Around her waist was a tool belt that held sculpting tools that were bigger and sharper than necessary and also had some blood on them. The most remarkable feature, however, was her hands; the three middle fingers on each hand had silver pen tips on the end and each one was attached to a little container on each wrist that held three different colored liquids. Kari realized this was blood, too, each one belonging to a different species.

"Don't worry Kari," she told her, still sounding as she did as human, though a little raspy, as she and her brother stood a little behind her. "We're not going to hurt you. Just stay where you are." Despite the strong urge to run, Kari listened to her and turned back to the wall to watch the cenobites enter.

The first to come out was the chattering creature, thankfully without any blood on him this time. He recognized her somehow-she had no idea how he could see when his eyes had flesh over them-and seemed to click out some sort of greeting she didn't understand before standing immediately to her right. She decided to start calling him "Chatterer" in her head.

A female with both halves of her scalp peeled back and clamped to her shoulders came next. She may have been pretty despite her exposed cranium since she had full red lips, two beauty marks on her left cheek, and an hourglass figure many women would die for, but the haughty expression on her face that reminded Kari of several girls from her school that gossiped loudly during class and occasionally tried to make her feel uncomfortable about how she looked made her unattractive in her eyes. She positioned herself to Kari's left and turned away from her, sticking her nose in the air.

Another female, this one with her throat cut and pulled back with wire, and an obese male with dark glasses hiding his eyes came in and took their place beside Chatterer and the haughty faced cenobite respectively. The one with the cut throat looked at her with some skepticism while the obese one seemed politely interested in her for some reason.

Yet another female came out. She too had a cut throat, with a lit cigarette held in the middle and exposed muscle from her elbows to her fingertips that almost looked like opera gloves. Unlike the others, though, this one smiled briefly at Kari and even gave a little wave before standing beside the obese cenobite.

A hooded figure came next, so far the only cenobite not present the last time they met. Kari couldn't see its face, but its breathing and slender figure told her another female stood under the hood. She felt this newcomer's gaze for a moment before she took her place beside the female with wires holding her throat open.

All the cenobites turned their attention to the wall as their leader-the one Kari anticipated and dreaded-came out and stood directly in front of her. He looked exactly as he did last time: pale skin, leather cassock with several chest wounds that continually bled, dark eyes that seemed to stare into her soul, and the pins embedded in his skull, all terrifying, but fascinating, to the young girl.

He seemed unsurprised to see her here. On the contrary, he smiled as though he was meeting an old friend.

"You summoned us, Kari. What do you want?"

It took a moment for her to find her voice and when she did, she was glad that it sounded less afraid than she felt. "I want to find my parents. Aluf and Laveda told me that you may know where they are. Is this true, and, if it is, will you let me find them?"

He nodded once. "They both reside with us. Whether or not we will let you look for them, however, depends on a few factors. Your guardians' approval, for a start." He looked past Kari and when she turned around, she was shocked to see that Joey and Tiffany had slipped into the room without drawing attention to themselves. Tiffany seemed apprehensive while Joey glared at the cenobite. He seemed unfazed by this when he spoke. "Good evening, Tiffany and Joanne. It has been a while since we have spoken."

"Spare me the pleasantries, Pinhead. What do you want with Kari?"

"Joey-" Tiffany began, sounding like she was trying to warn her, but Joey ignored her.

"Why did you come back after all this time? Why, instead of talking to us, do you send puzzle guardians to trick her into opening the box when you could have taken her yourself three years ago? "

The cenobite laughed a little at this. "'Trick her?' Aside from pretending not to know how to open the box and one of them posing as a human, they have been honest with her. And, judging by how her shoulders tensed when she saw you, you have no room to talk."

"You know him? You two knew what happened and you never told me?" While Kari wasn't angry, hurt was evident in her voice. Joey suddenly looked guilty and couldn't look her in the eye as Tiffany spoke.

"Yes. His name is Xipe Totec and he was... is a close friend of your mother's, and he is our friend as well, to some extent. We never told you about him and pretended not to see him in the hospital room with us because we wanted you to forget what you saw one of his comrades do to those terrible men. We see now that hiding this information from you was a mistake and we're sorry."

Kari nodded, still hurt by this small betrayal of trust, but understanding why they did it.

"To answer your questions, Joey," Xipe continued, "I feel I left a bad first impression on Kari when we met and wanted to start over. I feel the best way to do so is to give her a chance to find her parents. Since you two care deeply about her and want to protect her, I need you to give your consent before I continue. Will you let me explain to her what needs to be done?"

Tiffany nodded at once. After a moment, Joey sighed before muttering, "You better not pull the rug from under her feet again."

"Good. Now, Kari," she turned back to him, "your mother and father are in the Labyrinth where we live. I want to reunite you with them, but our god Leviathan and the other cenobites feel you need to prove you're worthy enough to go anywhere you want and leave whenever you want. So seven trials have been put in place to test your skills and virtues.

"If you succeed, I will let you find your parents and you will be free to enter and leave the Labyrinth as you please. If you fail, though I doubt you will, you will have to leave and cannot open the box to try again for another five years. Before you decide if you want to go through with this, I must warn you that the Labyrinth holds many dangers. Rooms that force you to experience your worst nightmares, cenobites from other Gashes that will assume you are a prisoner, people that committed horrible sins who will try to hurt you if you wander into their cells, and the Harrowers-the organization that employed the men who tried to kill you-who try to invade the Labyrinth and will kill everyone who stands in their way.

"For your own safety, you are to stay in the chambers beside mine when not taking a test-these tests will take hours to complete and may cause stress so you need a place to rest-and cannot go anywhere beyond the hallway without me or another member of my Gash until you know the way. The dark corridors are forbidden; the worst members of the human race lay in darkness and often times either try to escape or attack someone who gets too close. You also cannot approach Leviathan until he sends for you; otherwise, he will cause psychological and sometimes physical harm to you.

"Since you now know the rules and the risks, are you willing and ready to begin?"

Kari stared into Xipe's eyes. Words from the past came back to her. _"Would you go through Hell to find your mother?" _Then, she answered no; she had feared and hated him, had simply wanted him to return her mother and leave her alone. Now, the Labyrinth still scared her, but she needed to find her parents, to find closure about whether or not they lived and cared about her, dark corridors of Hell be damned and forgotten. She will pass these tests, she will find the rest of her family, and she will take them home no matter what happens!

"Yes, I'm ready to begin." The moment she spoke, the candles went out and everything-Joey and Tiffany, the alter, and the cenobites-disappeared and she felt herself falling through darkness.

* * *

Author's Note: Thank God! I'm done with the exposition! =D Next time, the plot can actually begin. However, I need a little help. You see, I have ideas for five of the tests Kari has to go through, but I do not have ones that Butterball and Nikoletta would set. So if anyone has any suggestions for tests they would set, please either send a private message or mention it in a review. As for my personal life, I have begun college (GO MOCS!) and while I only have sixteen hours a week, my school work comes first so updates may be slow. But I will continue this story, other stories, and write a few oneshots when I have the time. See ya!


End file.
